Man dies in freak accident' in Oak Park

OAK PARK – A Detroit man was killed while helping to connect a trailer to a tractor truck and a metal plate struck him in the face after a hydraulic system was activated, police said.

“It was a freak accident,” said Oak Park Public Safety Lt. Samantha Kretzschmar. “When the driver started to activate the hydraulics a piece of metal shot out and hit the victim in the face and neck area.”

Police said the man, Thomas Lusby Jr., 36, was with another man outside LPC Landscape Services, 12851 N. End just before noon Monday when the incident happened.

Lusby was knocked to the ground by the force of the blow from a metal plate that was part of the tractor-trailer connection system. The Oakland County Medical Examiner did an autopsy on Tuesday and determined Lusby died from a broken neck and a severed aorta.

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Kretzschmar said the L-shaped metal plate weights about 15 to 20 pounds and appeared to be used as a spacer in the connection between the trailer and tractor truck.

“Everyone was horrified,” she said. “He didn’t bleed to death. We found him on the ground and it was the force of the blow that hurt him and knocked him to the ground.”

No one else was injured, police said.

Lusby was pronounced dead at the scene and he was transported to the medical examiner’s office.

Lusby was helping the driver of the truck attach the trailer when he was killed. Police said they don’t expect to charge anyone in connection with the death because it was accidental.

However, Kretzschmar said the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration will investigate the accident further. MIOSHA typically investigates workplace injuries and fatalities to determine whether adequate safety standards are in place at work sites.